The state Department of Tourism has set up its own brackets to find Alabama's best barbecue restaurant, with 32 eateries known for their slowly smoked cooked meats and distinctive sauces in the running.

The Tuscaloosa area is well represented in the culinary March Madness to crown the barbecue king.

Tuscaloosa-based Dreamland BBQ and Archibald's Bar B Que in Northport are in the Alabama BBQ Bracket Quest for the Best, which officially begins Monday.

This is a good story to introduce some posting I might make in the future concerning "campfire cooking." Or maybe just camping in general. That little patch of woods out behind the house might be the right place to teach your kids this Spring a little bit about how much fun they can have camping out and cooking over an open campfire.

Spring is running up on us like a steam freight train with water heated up, a full firebox, and the Johnson bar all the way out.

Watch that gauge, and let off some steam with your signature "All aboard" or downhill crossing toot toot.

“See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.”― George W. Bush